Please help me with switching insulin. levemir or lantus

I have a 7 year old maine coon who has been a diabetic for most of his life. He, unfortunatly, takes a high dose of Vetsulin (12u) twice a day. He has been on this dose and it has kept him quite healthy for years. We've only had one hypoglycemic attack which was due to human error.

Anyway, with the Vetsulin situation hitting home, we're making a switch to another insulin within a month. This is probably something that will be benificial for my cat. The problem is I am not very familiar with insulin types other than Vetsulin. The vet mentioned Lantus, which was my initial guess. However I would like to know which would be a better insulin to try for my cat, Levermir or Lantus.

My cat is a bit skiddish and doesnt care to be handled too much, so blood testing can often be a pain. Insulin shots are not however. Also, please note that we're not the richest people. I think I read about Levemir being a bit cheaper than Lantus as well as more gentile. Considering he is used to taking 12u twice daily and his blood sugar levels were in the 600s when he was first diagnosed, I would like to make the insulin switch as comfortable as possible for my cat.

We can not blood test him regularly daily, however we are practicing, so that we can hope to maintain a general idea of what his insulin levels are like under certain conditions. The biggest problem is he does not like his ear to be pricked, and his feet are so thick and callous that it's hard to get a sample from there as well. However, this issue is another story.

Can you recommend some tips, suggestions, information, etc. to help my family make a decision as to which insulin to try next? The vet mentioned Lantus, I was thinking Lantus or Levermir and preferrably the cheaper option if both work well.

Thanks for your help.

 

His diet is Purina DM, mostly wet and some dry food. He gets chicken treats every now and then because he's such an awesome cat. I would also like to work on modifying his diet, if Purina DM is just overpriced not-quite-healthy food. I hear good things about Fancy Feast?

Thanks for all your help. Remember our family can't really blood test him several times a day, but we are working on it. He is a trooper and is outstandingly healthy aside from his diabetic condition. I would like to see him fare well on a new type of insulin since switching is recommended. And perhaps on a better quality food.

Money is a real issue, however. : (

Thanks for all your help.

 

Hi there I'm sorry no one has answered you, this part of the forum is not very busy (since Vetsulin has been recalled) I certainly recommend switching to Lantus or Levemir and testing as much as you can (sometimes it's tough, I know). Yes, the DM is over priced and of lesser quality than many supermarket brands (ie. Fancy Feast, Friskies...) I recommend you copy your posts here and start a new topic on the main health board viewforum.php?f=3 you will get lot's of responses and help there very quickly. Good luck!

 

Hi there,

Like Monique mentionned, you might want to xpost in Health to get the others who have already done such transitions.

Does your kitty have other existing medical conditions? or is he insulin resistant? The reason I ask is because 12 units is an extremely large dose of vetsulin. I can only suggest to also xpost in the High Dose support group as well.

I wish I could help more, but my experience has only been with canninsulin (Vetsulin) and I only saw great results with microdosing (under 1 unit).